Bettina Bruns

Smuggling and small‐scale trade as part of informal economic practices

Purpose – Using small‐scale cross‐border trade and smuggling as an example of an informal practice carried out in many post‐socialist countries, the purpose of this paper is to explore which different meanings this activity possesses for the people being involved in it and in how far small‐scale cross‐border trade is being accepted and looked at by society. The authors hope to show the different connections between informal and formal activities and specificities of localities which people in the mentioned countries deploy when trying to secure their livelihood.Design/methodology/approach – The authors used a qualitative empirical research including group discussions with small‐scale traders and small entrepreneurs, expert interviews with representatives of the border authorities and systematic observations at border crossing points and open‐air markets at the Finnish‐Russian, Polish‐Ukrainian, Polish‐Belarusian and Ukrainina‐Romanian borders.Findings – The paper provides empirical insights about why peop...

European Neighbourhood Policy

The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) applies to Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia and Ukraine. It aims to strengthen the prosperity, stability and security of all. It is based on democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and is a bilateral policy between the EU and each partner country, with regional cooperation initiatives: the Eastern Partnership and the Union for the Mediterranean[1].

Risiken und Nebenwirkungen. Unbehagliche Begegnungen zwischen Forschenden und Beforschten

Wahrend Feldforschungen sind die Forschenden oft mit unvorhersehbaren Situationen konfrontiert, die jenseits ihrer Kontrolle liegen und die mit Gefahren und Risiken fur die eigene Unversehrtheit verbunden sein konnen. Am Beispiel des lokalen Umgangs mit Alkohol im Feld zeigt der Beitrag auf, welchen Herausforderungen sich Feldforschende gegenuber sehen konnen und wie schwierig der Balanceakt zwischen personlicher Abgrenzung und Annehmen der Situationen in der Feldforschung sein kann.

Der Datenträger im Brillenetui. Feldforschung in autoritären Staaten

Feldforschung in autoritaren Staaten birgt ein Risiko fur Forscher/innen als auch fur Beforschte. Das autoritare System in Belarus ist gekennzeichnet durch Omniprasenz der staatlichen Kontrollorgane, Marginalisierung oppositioneller Akteure und der unabhangigen Presse. Gleichzeitig stehen die belarussischen Burger in einer hohen Abhangigkeit zum Staat. Forschende tragen dementsprechend eine Verantwortung gegenuber den Teilnehmern/Teilnehmerinnen der Feldforschung, um sie vor negativen Konsequenzen durch ihre Teilnahme zu schutzen muss ihre Anonymitat garantiert werden. Der Schutz der Interviewpartner/innen ist hier der Erhebung der Daten vorrangig. Forscher/innen in autoritaren System mussen zudem pragmatische Fragen zur Einreise und der Sicherung der erhobenen Daten klaren. Vor Ort konnen sie mit wirklichen aber auch mit paranoiden Momenten der staatlichen Kontrolle und Verfolgung und dem Gefuhl der Kriminalisierung seines/ihres Forschungsvorhabens konfrontiert werden. Zur Reflektion und Aufarbeitung empfiehlt sich die Fuhrung eines Forschungstagebuches und die Zusammenarbeit mit lokalen Mitarbeitern/Mitarbeiterinnen.

The EU and Its “Ring of Friends”—Eye-level or Top-down Relationships?

The EU’s European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was launched in 2004 as an external strategy to bind and harmonize the larger neighborhood. This external governance approach includes hierarchical and network elements with the goal of maintaining external and internal stability and security. As a replacement for the enlargement policy with the prospect of future membership, this foreign policy approach is perceived differently by the Eastern neighbors and the level of participation differs depending on the country involved. While Ukraine has pursued a clear pro-EU course since the events of the Euromaidan in 2014, Belarus, which is a member of the Eurasian Union, cooperates with the EU on a loose basis, which can be interpreted as a strategy to counterbalance Russia’s influence. A close look at an EU-funded waste management project carried out in Belarus and Ukraine reveals a discrepancy between rule adoption and application as fostered by the ENP and its perception by local and international experts.

Homogenous and Extra-territorial Border Regime? Migrations and Control Efforts Across the Eastern EU External Border

ABSTRACT In light of the high amount of refugees wishing to cross the EU’s external borders into the Union, the border regime is becoming more and more standardized and, to a great extent, involves the EU neighbor states. These are confronted with a double strategy with regard to their involvement in the EU’s migration policy. On the one hand, the EU tries to guarantee its own security by setting up a tough border regime. On the other hand, the EU strives for a closer connection with its neighbors by including them more and more into its migration regulations. By having a look at Ukraine and Moldova, the paper asks what this involvement in EU policies means for the mentioned countries and focuses on their perspectives. How does their participation in EU extra-territorial migration regulation look like? What does the extra-territorialized border regime mean for those actors wishing to cross the border? For this purpose, a concept of the EU’s eastern external border regime will be developed first, including its targeted homogeneity and its partly extra-territorial functioning. By discussing the results of an ethnographic border regime analysis, the paper will present the perspectives of specific actors in third states who implement EU migration regulations on a local level by carrying out concrete EU-driven projects. Furthermore, voices from refugees and inhabitants of the border regions in third states are taken into account.

EU Extra-territorialization and Securitization: What Does It Mean for Ukraine and Belarus?

Striving to create a ‘ring of friends’ (European Commission, 2003, p. 4) around its territory, in 2003 the European Union set up the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The Eastern Partnership (EaP) —which is addressed to six countries; namely, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine—has been a key instrument of this policy since its foundation in 2008. The ENP as an extra-territorial strategy includes measures which are carried out outside (‘extra’) the EU’s territorial dominion—namely, in neighboring countries. Popescu and Wilson state that the EU ‘offers a degree of economic integration, financial assistance and fund political dialogue in exchange for reforms and democratization’ (Popescu & Wilson, 2009, p.13). Subsequently, the EU realizes its own security-related interests through this policy approach since the neighborhood is seen as a possible source of instability and, hence, can endanger the EU’s internal status quo.

Grenzüberschreitende ökonomische Praktiken an den östlichen EU-Außengrenzen – Der Umgang von Kleinhändlern und Kleinhändlerinnen sowie Unternehmern und Unternehmerinnen mit Grenzregimen

In unserem Projekt beschaftigen wir uns mit einer vergleichenden Analyse wirtschaftlicher Praktiken von Kleinhandler/-innen und Unternehmer/-innen an verschiedenen Abschnitten der Ausengrenze der Europaischen Union (EU).2 Als wir im Fruhjahr 2008 mit der empirischen Forschung in Polen und Belarus beginnen, sind die Gesprache vor Ort gepragt von einer der jungsten und einschneidendsten Veranderungen an dieser Grenze: Seit dem 21.12.2007 gehort Polen zum Schengen- Raum. Mit der schrittweisen Erweiterung des Schengen-Raums treibt die EU die Homogenisierung ihrer Ausengrenzen voran, an denen ein einheitliches Regime der Kontrolle und Uberwachung nach ausen verwirklicht werden soll, wahrend nach innen ein hohes Mas an Integration ermoglicht wird.